Kenya Borders Somalia

Ethiopia and Kenya have shut their land borders with Somalia to try to keep out gunmen who may retreat as a U.S.-led multinational force arrives, diplomatic officials said Monday. A spokesman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Kenya said: "We are not unhappy with the border closures because we understand the security implications. Obviously we would like borders reopened soon so that refugees can move freely."

This country's recent decision to close its border with Somalia and ban flights between the two nations is threatening livelihoods--and raising fears among humanitarian groups that aid might not reach Somalis who desperately need it. Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi, citing the smuggling of illegal firearms from the neighboring nation, insisted that the border will remain closed until Somalia gets a legitimate and functional government.

It was not very long ago that members of this country's sizable ethnic Somali community believed that years of discrimination and harassment by the black African majority had come to an end. "Things were better than (at) any time in memory," said one prominent Somali here. No more.

Ethiopia and Kenya have shut their land borders with Somalia to try to keep out gunmen who may retreat as a U.S.-led multinational force arrives, diplomatic officials said Monday. A spokesman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Kenya said: "We are not unhappy with the border closures because we understand the security implications. Obviously we would like borders reopened soon so that refugees can move freely."

This country's recent decision to close its border with Somalia and ban flights between the two nations is threatening livelihoods--and raising fears among humanitarian groups that aid might not reach Somalis who desperately need it. Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi, citing the smuggling of illegal firearms from the neighboring nation, insisted that the border will remain closed until Somalia gets a legitimate and functional government.

An American AC-130 aerial gunship crashed into the Indian Ocean off Kenya on Monday, killing one crewman and leaving 10 missing. Three other crew members were plucked from the water by rescuers, said Army Col. Steve Rausch. Kenyan divers and fishing boats, as well as several U.S. aircraft, were continuing the search. The plane had taken off from Mombasa, Kenya, and was on its way to Somalia "to conduct a routine mission" in support of U.S. forces there, said a Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr.

For more than 500 years, this city on the Indian Ocean has been a key entrepot to the Middle East, with traders moving large volumes of everything from ivory and spices to human cargo. But in recent times, Mombasa has also become a popular port for traffickers smuggling illegal firearms to armies fighting civil wars in the continent.

It was not very long ago that members of this country's sizable ethnic Somali community believed that years of discrimination and harassment by the black African majority had come to an end. "Things were better than (at) any time in memory," said one prominent Somali here. No more.